Wednesday, May 18, 2011

More and more frequently it seems that when the end of the week comes, I look at what is left in my fridge and end up throwing something together for dinner. Most of the time it turns out really great. I don't usually share these dishes because I am not really measuring anything, but I cook enough to know that what I am doing will turn out deliciously.

The other night I had a huge bag of spinach, a cup of chickpeas, a head of Fiesta Flower (orange cauliflower), and most of a can of lite coconut milk. First, I was thinking that I would make a quick stir-fry, but then I decided to make a curry instead. I had some leftover cooked brown rice, so the red lentil/brown rice accompaniment was perfect.

I just used the 2 recipes below as sort of a guide, I didn't really follow them, but this dish turned out so yummy. No complaints from the kids. I love it when that happens. They all gobbled it down. And when my husband came home from work and took a bite, he was inspired to find a new station on Pandora called "Bollywood Beatdown". I guess it was all those spices. Anyway, the kids and I started dancing around the table while he was trying to eat.

I can't promise the same results, but this was a really fun dinner for us.

I served the curry over the red lentil mixtureHere is the recipe for Cauliflower and Spinach Curry* I loosely followed this recipe-* I added chickpeas* I omitted the tomato paste*I didn't make the thick paste at the beginning- I just cooked my onion and added garlic, ginger, and spices

Here is a recipe for Red Lentil Soup from 101 Cookbooks* I added less liquid so this would be less like soup and thick*I added cooked brown rice when the red lentils were done cooking* I added cumin and curry powder*I omitted the red pepper flakes